A former CIA operative who says he tried to warn the agency about faulty intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs now contends that CIA officials also ignored evidence that Iran had suspended work on a nuclear bomb. The onetime undercover agent, who has been barred by the CIA from using his real name, filed a motion in federal court late Friday asking the government to declassify legal documents describing what he says was a deliberate suppression of findings on Iran that were contrary to agency views at the time. The former operative alleged in a 2004 lawsuit that the CIA fired him after he repeatedly clashed with senior managers over his attempts to file reports that challenged the conventional wisdom about weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. Key details of his claim have not been made public because they describe events the CIA deems secret……(Washington Post, 1 Jul 08)

Pentagon will buy satellites to do more spying

The Pentagon will buy and operate one or two commercial imagery satellites and plans to design and build another with more sophisticated spying capabilities, according to government and private industry officials. The satellites could spy on enemy troop movements, spot construction at suspected nuclear sites and alert commanders to new militant training camps. The Broad Area Surveillance Intelligence Capability (BASIC) satellite system will cost between $2 billion and $4 billion. It would add to the secret constellation of satellites that now circle the Earth, producing still images that are pieced together into one large mosaic…..(AP, 1 Jul 08)

FBI Director Robert Mueller on Monday criticized the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, saying it may harm efforts to deter violent crime… Mueller said the FBI's top priority remains counterterrorism, counter-intelligence and protecting the secrets of the United States. He said college campuses and small communities could be "potential incubators of terrorism" even while major cities such as New York and Los Angeles remain primary targets for terrorists. "The fact is we can't rule out any community in the United States as a potential incubator of terrorism,"…..(AP, 30 Jun 08)

In response to a demand for better intelligence in increasingly uncertain times, the Coast Guard is now growing its own. The first group of Coast Guard intelligence specialists graduated at the training center here last month, and more classes are under way….

Program Goal
The goal is to put intelligence specialists on all the Coast Guard’s platforms, whether at sea on cutters, monitoring ship traffic and researching foreign ports, or on shore, mapping trends on drug smuggling and illegal immigration routes and helping with search-and-rescue missions……( Virginian-Pilot, 29 Jun 08)

 
U.S. Is Said to Expand Covert Operations in Iran

…Hersh reported that the approval for expanded covert authority was contained in a "Presidential Finding," a highly classified document that lays the legal groundwork for all covert activities by U.S. intelligence officials. The Iranian finding was presented late last year to eight congressional leaders -- the top Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and House, and on the intelligence committees of both chambers -- in keeping with a requirement for congressional notification. In theory, Congress can challenge a proposed covert action by denying funding. Spokesmen for the intelligence committees declined to comment, citing the strict rules of secrecy governing such documents. The CIA also declined to comment. "The CIA does not, as a rule, comment on allegations regarding covert operations,"…..(Washington Post, 30 Jun 08)

Search for digital contraband hit - 'Suspicionless' intrusions

Terrorist suspects, child pornographers and a corporate spy smuggling defense secrets have been apprehended upon entering the U.S. when data on their laptop computers were searched by Customs and Border Protection officers, but some Senate Democrats want to restrict routine "suspicionless" digital intrusions… The Supreme Court holds that the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure does not apply to government inspection of baggage at ports of entry "based on its inherent sovereign authority to protect its territorial integrity," according to its 1979 decision in the marijuana-smuggling case of Torres v. Puerto Rico.

But the high court set limits, requiring "probable suspicion" to conduct a strip search or cavity search………(Washington Times, 30 Jun 08)

A Congressional panel voted Wednesday against giving the FBI $11 million it requested to expand a controversial data-mining program, citing concerns about Americans' privacy and the lack of answers from the bureau on how the program operates. The National Security Analysis Center (NSAC) brings together hundreds of millions of electronic records created or collected by the FBI and other government agencies, according to FBI documents. The bureau has said it expects that number to skyrocket in the coming years. Its annual budget, which the FBI had hoped to increase, is roughly $50 million….(ABC, 27 Jun 08)

FBI Data-Mining Slashed After G-Men Dis Congress

…“By refusing to answer even the most basic questions about this program, the Department of Justice has given us little choice.  In fact, we’re only doing what they told us to do,” said Congressman Brad Miller in a statement. “The Department of Justice... said that if Congress didn’t like what they were doing, we could pull their funding.  Well, that’s what we’ve done... Until an agency can provide reasonable explanations, and assurances that our citizens’ privacy won’t be violated, it would be irresponsible to give the Department of Justice this large increase in funds. ” The project, known as the National Security Analysis Center (NSAC), is supposed to bring together "hundreds of millions of electronic records created or collected by the FBI and other government agencies,"……(Wired, 26 Jun 08)

Podcast: Spies and Secrecy

…Enough, to have written a book about the brother — David Greenglass — whose testimony sent his older sister and her husband to the electric chair at Sing Sing. Enough, to have sued the federal government to release the minutes of the grand jury that indicted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.  The suit, filed by David Vladeck and the National Security Archive, argued that ordinary secrecy and privacy are subsumed by history’s compelling claim…..(City Room Blog, 26 Jun 08)

 Computer Files Hold Key in CIA Case

…Angelo Foglieri, an Italian anti-terrorism investigator, said Wednesday during trial proceedings in Milan that police found street maps on the CIA officer's computer that had been downloaded from an Internet travel service, Expedia.com. The maps, he said, showed the quickest routes from the cleric's mosque and home in Milan to Aviano Air Base, a joint U.S.-Italian military installation a few hours' drive away. Also found on the computer were surveillance photos of the Egyptian cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, taken about a month before his alleged abduction, Foglieri said. Foglieri's testimony came during a trial of 26 Americans charged with grabbing Nasr off the street as he walked toward a Milan mosque on Feb. 17, 2003.…….(Washington Post, 26 Jun 08)

Military Intelligence — Need to find a military base? Ask the FAA

Although militaries worldwide have had something of a strained relationship with the booming online mapping industry, what with asking facilities to be blurred out or not included in services such as Google Earth, sometimes, you just need to know where a military base is. For example, civilian pilots need to know where bases are and where exercises are taking place so they can, say, avoid collisions with military aircraft. So, the Federal Aviation Administration has created www.seeandavoid.org, a Google Maps mashup that shows a host of aviation-related U.S. military geography, including military bases, areas of operation and special use airspaces. It also has a map of airports, and shows where midair collisions and near-misses have occurred…….(Fredrick News Post, 26 Jun 08)

House moves to cut back secrecy, Classification overuse targeted

Congress on Thursday will take a major step in rolling back the tide of secrecy that has swept through government since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, with the House Homeland Security Committee poised to pass two bills making the Homeland Security Department more transparent.  Both bills are expected to pass the committee easily: One would crack down on too-frequent use of classification, while the other would go after "pseudo-classification" - the new labels such as "for official use only" that have popped up to keep even unclassified documents out of the hands of the public and other government agencies……(Washington Times, 26 Jun 08)

Court: NSA can refuse to say if lawyers wiretapped

The National Security Agency does not need to tell lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees whether their phones were tapped as part of the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

The NSA has refused to say whether it listened in on the conversations of the lawyers who are advising detainees being held at the U.S. naval facility in Cuba. The NSA says even confirming the existence of such wiretaps would jeopardize national security.

A federal judge in New York agreed, saying the super-secret agency can't be forced to disclose information about the program……(AP, 25 Jun 08)

Global climate change will have wide-ranging implications for national security over the next two decades, affecting the stability of some developing countries and potentially contributing to civil conflict, according to the first public intelligence analysis of the security impacts of global warming. The confidential report's sweeping conclusions will likely add fuel to the political debate as battles over climate change and energy heat up on the campaign trail. Last year's congressional mandate for this intelligence report sparked fierce partisan clashes as Republicans argued that intelligence resources shouldn't be used for a report that relied on information that wasn't secret……(Wall Street Journal, 25 Jun 08)

Intelligence Report Assesses Impact of Climate Change

The U.S. intelligence community has completed a classified analysis of the national security implications of climate change, part of which will be presented to Congress on Wednesday. The National Intelligence Assessment (distinct from the better-known National Intelligence Estimate because it is a more speculative document) is being billed as the U.S. government's first analysis of the security threats posed by global warming. Officials say that they do not expect the assessment to be declassified, but Thomas Fingar, the deputy director of national intelligence for analysis and chairman of the National Intelligence Council, will present an overview of the findings…….(US News, 25 Jun 08)

Report: National Intelligence Assessment on the National Security Implications of Global Climate Change to 2030   (DNI)

Pentagon Spy: Terrorists Ready to Launch Satellite Strikes by 2020

The Defense Intelligence Agency believes that terrorists could be able to "disrupt" American satellites by 2020 -- and that states like China could have "robust destructive capabilities" in space around the same time. The question is, how good are the Pentagon's spies at figuring out our enemies' space programs, really? In a presentation obtained by DANGER ROOM, Randy Jones, the associate technical director of the Defense Intelligence Agency's Missile & Space Intelligence Center, warned that terror groups could use lasers, radio frequency jammers, and even nuclear weapons to knock out U.S. satellites. Countries like China might launch anti-satellite [ASAT] ballistic missiles -- or position weapons in orbit. These states might be "hesitant," at first, to start blasting American orbiters, Jones observes, "but [would] probably be willing under appropriate conditions" to attack.  Jones' gloomy presentation, "Threats to Space Capabilities," was delivered earlier this month to the Space Security & Defense Conference. In it, he observes that advanced countries already "have the technical basis to develop" an ASAT arsenal. Which is true -- just look at China's 2007 satellite shoot-down. He also notes that "rogue nation/terrorist[s]" can use jammers to interfere with satellite transmission; also true -- Air Force cadets have demonstrated similar abilities, again and again. …..(Wired, 25 Jun 08)

‘Black Budget’ Growing

One of the rarely noticed techniques is the "black budget." This is the Cold War practice of developing, and initially building, critical weapons and technology in secret. This method, which adds a few percent to the cost of the "black" (secret) systems, declined after the Cold War ended in 1991. But by the mid 1990s, it began growing again, and the amount of money in the black budget ($34 billion for next year) is now twice what it was 13 years ago. About 44 percent of the black budget is for procurement (14 percent of all procurement for the year), the rest is for Research and Development (24 percent of all R&D). If the Chinese don't even know what is being worked on, or have to expend effort to just find out that much, they end up with fewer resources with which to steal really valuable stuff….(Strategy Page, 25 Jun 08)

Italian anti-terror official testifies at Milan trial of alleged CIA kidnap of Egyptian cleric

The home computer of the former CIA station chief in Milan contained surveillance photographs of an Egyptian cleric abducted on a Milan street, an anti-terrorism investigator testified Wednesday. Angelo Foglieri was testifying at the trial of 26 Americans charged with kidnapping abducting Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, from a Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003 — allegedly as part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program. Foglieri told a court that Bob Seldon Lady's computer contained three photographs of the cleric taken in mid-January 2003, a month before the alleged abduction, that appeared to have either been taken in rapid succession or were frames grabbed from a video…….(AP, 25 Jun 08)

…The US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), whose very existence was classified until 1992, is going public about the transformation of its organization and mission. In an ironic twist, much of the transformational energy being expended involves the development of ground intelligence capabilities. Ironic, because NRO is an intelligence agency whose original mission was to develop and operate spy satellites on behalf of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the US intelligence community. The NRO transformation, explained Michele Weslander Quaid, NRO's chief technology officer, de-emphasizes the collection of satellite data and focuses instead on developing ground capabilities to process, fuse and analyze that data - a move that would completely reorient the agency's original path…..(ISN Security Watch, 23 Jun 08)

This is General Hayden, the civilian director of the CIA. What is happening in the USA?

Robert Gates supports General Hayden's appointment as the civilian director of the CIA, saying "Close military-CIA cooperation is particularly important during the war on terror." Looking at the appointment as a foreigner, it is strange that President Bush would want to pass up a chance to pollinate the CIA with new genes from the civilian population…….(Australian, 23 Jun 08)

CIA agents admit their jails were in Poland for three years

… American CIA agents told the New York Times that the most important CIA jails were located in Poland for about three years. The country was chosen as it had no cultural or religious links with Al Qaeda, which limited the risk of infiltration or attack from its supporters. "What is even more important, Polish agents were willing to cooperate," said a CIA agent……(Warsaw Business Journal, 23 Jun 08)

Bush fails to appoint a nuclear terror czar

Ten months after Congress passed a law establishing a White House coordinator for preventing nuclear terrorism, President Bush has no plans to create the high-level post any time soon, according to the National Security Council. The provision - suggested by leading members of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks - was contained in 2007 legislation designed to improve homeland defenses. Congress passed it by a wide margin, with bipartisan support……(Boston Globe, 22 Jun 08)

Missing a Father in Iran

It has been 471 days since my father, Robert "Bob" Levinson, went missing in Iran -- more than the 444 days that 52 American diplomats were held hostage after they were seized in Iran in 1979.

These past 15 months have brought my mother, four sisters, two brothers and me nothing but grief and sadness. We are no closer to finding answers than we were when our father disappeared March 9, 2007, on Kish Island, Iran. He was on a private business trip, and I emphasize "private" because, although he worked for the FBI years ago, he has been retired for more than a decade.

When he disappeared, my father was investigating cigarette smuggling -- a known problem in that region -- on behalf of several large companies…..(Washington Post, 22 Jun 08)

Hayden applauded for military service, CIA leadership seen as crucial

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Friday that ties between military and intelligence operations today are the closest in the history of modern warfare, and he praised CIA Director Michael V. Hayden during his military retirement ceremony for boosting joint efforts… Mr. Gates, a former CIA director, said close cooperation between the military and the CIA's clandestine intelligence agents is essential to countering the twin threats of global terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. "Countless" lives have been saved in Iraq and Afghanistan through intelligence efforts that led to the killing or capturing of terrorist leaders, he said…….(Washington Times, 21 Jun 08)

'Curveball' unfazed, unrepentant

Rafid Ahmed Alwan hoped for an easier life when he came here from Iraq nine years ago. He also hoped for a reward for cooperating with German intelligence officers… Instead, the Iraqi informant code-named Curveball has flipped burgers at McDonald's and Burger King and baked pretzels in an all-night bakery. He also has faced international scorn for peddling discredited intelligence that helped spur an invasion of his native country. Now, in his first public comments, the 41-year-old engineer from Baghdad complains that the CIA and other spy agencies are blaming him for their mistakes. "I'm not guilty,"…..(LA Times, 21 Jun 08)

Geoffrey Fowler's job is to share the CIA's intelligence reports with as many people as possible — at least the cleared ones.  Fowler is managing editor of the CIA's daily World Intelligence Review (WIRe), which reaches hundreds of thousands of readers through the government's classified Joint Worldwide Intelligence and Communication System and Secret IP Router network. Its content informs top national security advisers each day. He said in a recent interview that although people do not generally think of the spy agency as an information-sharing organization, that's an important function of the CIA. And like executives of news organizations, Fowler said he's feeling pressure to make content accessible to an audience that now expects to stay connected from any location……(FCW, 18 Jun 08)

Surveillance Bill Offers Protection To Telecom Firms

House and Senate leaders agreed yesterday on surveillance legislation that could shield telecommunications companies from privacy lawsuits… The agreement extends the government's ability to eavesdrop on espionage and terrorism suspects while effectively providing a legal escape hatch for AT&T, Verizon Communications and other telecom firms. They face more than 40 lawsuits that allege they violated customers' privacy rights by helping the government conduct a warrantless spying program after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The breakthrough on the legislation came hours after the White House agreed to Democratic demands for domestic spending additions to an emergency war funding bill……(Washington Post, 20 Jun 08)

Congress Strikes Deal to Overhaul Wiretap Law

…The deal, expanding the government’s powers to spy on terrorism suspects in some major respects, would strengthen the ability of intelligence officials to eavesdrop on foreign targets. It would also allow them to conduct emergency wiretaps without court orders on American targets for a week if it is determined that important national security information would otherwise be lost. If approved, as appears likely, the agreement would be the most significant revision of surveillance law in 30 years. The agreement would settle one of the thorniest issues in dispute by providing immunity to the phone companies in the Sept. 11 program as long as a federal district court determined that they received legitimate requests from the government directing their participation in the program of wiretapping without warrants……(New York Times, 20 Jun 08)

Wiretap Rules

Congressional leaders and the White House agreed to revise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which created a secret court to issue warrants for domestic spying in cases of terrorism and espionage. Under the deal, which would expire in 2012……(Washington Post, 20 Jun 08)

Little local involvement in US spy base: analyst

A security analyst says a planned US spy base near Geraldton, in mid-west Western Australia, will have little impact on the local community. Construction of the station, the first major US defense base to be built in Australia since the 1960s, will begin in July or August. It will be built alongside an existing Australian information gathering facility in Kojarena and provide communications for US operations in the Middle East and Asia Pacific……(ABC, 20 Jun 08)

…in government, if knowledge isn't shared between agencies and with others to whom the information could be vital, the consequences can be -- and have been -- deadly. The Sept. 11 commission report cited a lack of information-sharing as a contributing factor to the horrific events of that day in 2001. Nearly seven years later, the commission's recommendation for the creation of a "trusted information network" is finally getting some traction, with significant steps taken by the White House and comparable moves in Congress. The problem centers on what is known as "sensitive but unclassified" (SBU) information. There are no rules for what can or must be given that designation. As a result, different agencies have different standards for when to keep material within their walls…..(Washington Post, 19 Jun 08)

N. Korea's Abduction of U.S. Permanent Resident Fades From Official View

Kim Dong-shik, a U.S. permanent resident and Christian missionary with family living in Illinois, was abducted in 2000 by North Korean agents in northeastern China and taken to North Korea for interrogation and imprisonment, according to testimony in South Korean courts. Kim, whose wife and two children are U.S. citizens, had raised the ire of the North Korean government by helping its citizens flee the repressive regime and by attempting to convert North Korean athletes who attended the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. In January 2005, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and other Illinois lawmakers co-signed a letter to North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations, describing Kim as a "hero" and demanding answers from North Korea about his whereabouts. The signatories warned that they would oppose North Korea's removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism -- long a goal of the government in Pyongyang -- until a "full accounting" of Kim's abduction was provided……(Washington Post, 19 Jun 08)

FISA, Finally?

A compromise -- planned to be announced today -- has apparently been reached by Senate and House negotiators on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act legislation essential to continued intelligence gathering on terrorists.  The bill would renew for six years the repairs to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act made essential by a decision of the FISA court last year. That decision extended FISA warrant requirements to communications between two foreign parties that passed through US communications equipment. The law that fixed the problem -- the “Protect America Act” -- expired on February 16……(Human Events, 19 Jun 08)

Immunity likely for phone companies in spy bill

U.S. phone companies would be shielded from potentially billions of dollars in lawsuits under an anti-terror spy measure that appears headed toward approval, congressional sources said on Wednesday… The proposed compromise would allow a federal district court to dismiss a suit if the company was provided written assurances that Bush authorized their participation in the spy program and that it was legal, sources said. About 40 civil lawsuits have been filed accusing AT&T Inc, Verizon Communications Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp of violating Americans' privacy rights in helping the domestic surveillance program…….(Reuters, 18 Jun 08) 

Rafid Ahmed Alwan hoped for an easier life when he came here from Iraq nine years ago. He also hoped for a reward for his cooperation with German intelligence officers. "For what I've done, I should be treated like a king," he said outside a cramped, low-rent apartment he shares with his family. Instead, the Iraqi informant code-named Curveball has flipped burgers at McDonald's and Burger King, washed dishes in a Chinese restaurant and baked pretzels in an all-night bakery. He also has faced withering international scorn for peddling discredited intelligence that helped spur an invasion of his native country. Now, in his first public comments, the 41-year-old engineer from Baghdad complains that the CIA and other spy agencies are blaming him for their mistakes……(LA Times, 18 Jun 08)

WPAFB intelligence center gets new commander

The toughest part of leading the National Air & Space Intelligence Center is not being able to say much publicly about what it does, the center's outgoing and incoming commanders said Tuesday, June 17. Col. Karen A. Cleary, who stepped down as its commander Tuesday to accept a new Air Force assignment in Colorado, informed her three children in an aside during her departing remarks that she would probably never be able to tell them of things that NASIC accomplished during her two years as commander, because most of its work is classified. Still, Cleary said, the military and civilian employees of the center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base "find contentment just knowing that they're making a difference."…..(Daytona Daily, 17 Jun 08)

The construction of a new American military communications base in Western Australia's mid west will begin within weeks.  Australia's defense minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, says work on the station will begin in July or August.
It is the first major US defense base to be built in Australia since the 1960s.  The spy base will be built alongside an existing satellite centre, east of the mid-west city of Geraldton, and provide communications for US operations in the Middle East and Asia Pacific…….(Radio Australia, 17 Jun 08)

Intelligence expert faults U.S. on corralling loose nuke material

The Energy Department's top intelligence officer says the U.S. needs to do more to get uranium and plutonium off the black market. Rolf Mowatt-Larssen says the fact that trafficking in nuclear materials is still going on shows there hasn't been enough done to keep it out of the hands of terrorists. He says the U.S. should buy any nuclear material outside state control. The amount American agents purchase on the black market is classified…..(AP, 16 Jun 08)

Presidents need to rely on a little-known group of intelligence advisers that since the 1950s has helped guide policies and oversee the U.S. intelligence bureaucracy, according to a report by former intelligence officials.

The book-length report to be released today is an exhaustive historical study of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), which was created during the Eisenhower administration and has been used by presidents in different capacities ever since. ….(Washington Times, 16 Jun 08)

Intelligence Agency Joins U-Md. Research Center

…The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity is the new corollary of the military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, created in 1958 in the wake of the Sputnik launch to develop new defense technologies. Among other things, DARPA's work led to the development of the Internet, global positioning systems and unmanned aircraft. IARPA is expected to perform similar work for the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.

What the CIA Learned from Wikipedia

…when some in the Central Intelligence Agency began pitching Intellipedia, a Wikipedia -like project for its analysts and spies, they were met with some fierce critics. "We were called traitors, [and were told] we were going to get people killed," Don Burke, Intellipedia's Doyen in the CIA, said Tuesday at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference here. Sean Dennehy, the CIA's Intellipedia evangelist, added that selling superiors on the use of such tools for collaboration was especially tricky. "We still call spies collaborators," he noted. "We're trying to encourage collaboration, but there is still a negative connotation with that word." Despite the early challenges, the CIA now has users on its top secret, secret and sensitive unclassified networks reading and editing a central wiki that has been enhanced with a YouTube-like video channel, a Flickr-like photo sharing feature, content tagging, blogs and RSS feeds…..(PC World, 15 Jun 08)

A Fix-It List for The Spies

…The reorganization should be rationalized. One person should run the entire community, and that person should probably also have oversight of the CIA's clandestine service. Whether that person is called the DNI or the DCI is irrelevant. A model for what the spy chief should do is the 5 p.m. meeting that George Tenet convened every evening when he was DCI; he gathered representatives from all the intelligence agencies and grilled them for 90 minutes about what they were doing to stop the nation's enemies. The next morning he could brief the president, knowing all the facts. The CIA should stop trying to be all things to all policymakers and instead concentrate on the hard targets that matter most. As one senior ex-spook commented, this would require a new compact with Congress and the executive branch so that policymakers stop using the gold watch of the intelligence community to do the equivalent of pounding nails…….(Washington Post, 15 Jun 08)

Tentative accord on spy bill, immunity: sources

White House and congressional negotiators have reached a tentative agreement on an anti-terror spy bill that would permit court dismissal of potentially billions of dollars in lawsuits against phone companies, sources familiar with the talks said on Friday. Under the possible accord, a federal court could immunize a company by ruling it had been given written assurances that its participation in the U.S. government's warrantless domestic spying program was legal and authorized by President George W. Bush, one source said. It was unclear what would happen with suits against the government. But the government could claim state secrets, arguing information needed to prosecute was confidential and that suits should thus be dropped……(Reuters, 13 Jun 08)

Does the FBI track cellphone users' physical movements without a warrant? Does the Bureau store recordings of innocent Americans caught up in wiretaps in a searchable database?  Does the FBI's wiretap equipment store information like voicemail passwords and bank account numbers without legal authorization to do so?

That's what the nation's Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court wanted to know, in a series of secret inquiries in 2005 and 2006 into the bureau's counterterrorism electronic surveillance efforts, revealed for the first time in newly declassified documents……(Wired, 11 Jun 08)

AP) — Italian investigators contacted other European countries to help piece together events surrounding the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric as part of the CIA's extraordinary renditions program, the chief investigator testified Wednesday. The head of Milan's anti-terrorism police, Bruno Megale, said investigators worked with authorities in Germany, Spain and Switzerland. He was testifying at the trial of 26 Americans and Italian intelligence officers…..(AP, 11 Jun 08)

‘CIA ran secret operations in Holland’

The American secret service CIA ran secret operations in the Netherlands without informing the Dutch authorities, the Telegraaf reports on Thursday. The conflict led to the CIA chief in The Hague leaving the country in 2005, the paper says, quoting ‘well-informed sources’. It says the affair has been kept quiet so as not to damage the relationship between the two countries. The chairwoman of the government’s secret service supervisory committee confirmed the CIA chief was replaced…..(Dutch News, 12 Jun 08)

As the next president takes office, some 350,000 U.S. military personnel deployed overseas will await orders from their new commander in chief, the first wartime transition since Johnson-Nixon 40 years ago. The next administration will not only take charge of two wars but will also inherit daunting national security challenges: a global struggle against violent extremism; the continued proliferation of nuclear weapons to hostile states; growing challenges associated with energy security and climate change; an overstretched military under enormous strain; an economy sliding toward recession; and U.S. global standing at an all-time low.  The "nobody home" phenomenon that occurs between Election Day and the inauguration, as the old administration empties out and the new one has yet to fill its ranks, poses serious risks. It is imperative that this transition proceed quickly and effectively……(Washington Post, 10 Jun 08)

The federal investigation of contracting arrangements between the Pentagon and tax-exempt defense firms in Pennsylvania includes multiple deals that go as far back as 2002 and involve more money than was previously known, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.  The FBI and the Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service issued subpoenas two months ago seeking information about a small intelligence firm called Commonwealth Research Institute, or CRI, and its parent company, Concurrent Technologies. Both firms are registered nonprofit charities based in Johnstown, Pa……(Washington Post, 7 Jun 08)

Lawmaker seeks to set standards for DHS handling of sensitive unclassified info

House Homeland Security Intelligence Subcommittee Chairwoman Jane Harman, D-Calif., Thursday introduced legislation that would set parameters for the Homeland Security Department's "controlled unclassified information" designation. The White House last month issued a long-awaited CUI policy to provide a consistent system in the government for safeguarding sensitive documents that are unclassified. The framework is intended to replace what security experts believe are more than 100 individual agency control markings that have stymied information-sharing within the intelligence community and disclosures to the public……(Congress Dail6y, 6 Jun 08)

A top official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said on Tuesday that the intelligence community was moving inexorably toward embracing online collaboration tools, known as Web 2.0 applications, which hold the promise of improving U.S. intelligence efforts.   "The last frontier used to be the acquisition of information," said Michael Wertheimer, ODNI assistant deputy director for analysis. Now "the last frontier is collaboration. We're not getting incremental gains [in intelligence] on the amount of information we collect. It is the degree we can link up people and collaborate." Before the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created in 2004, the president's daily intelligence briefing was produced solely by the CIA. Now, it is a collaborative product of the 16 agencies that make up the intelligence community. State Department employees once sent vital information about foreign governments back to headquarters via cables and then later by e-mail, both of which were visible only within the agency. Now, those messages are published online so intelligence agencies also can view them, which greatly increases situational awareness, said Wertheimer, a vocal advocate for cross-agency communication and cooperation……(Gov Exec, 5 Jun 08)

U.S. attorney general revising FBI probe guidelines

…Meeting with reporters at the Justice Department, Mukasey said for the first time that he is working on revising the guidelines, but declined to discuss possible changes. It was unclear when the review would be finished.  In May 2002 then-Attorney General John Ashcroft announced sweeping changes to the guidelines to give the FBI greater leeway to conduct domestic counterterrorism surveillance.

A quarter century after the government sought to curtail domestic spying by imposing the guidelines, Ashcroft announced a complete overhaul, lifting restrictions on the FBI conducting surveillance at public gatherings, on religious and political organizations and on surfing the Internet……(Reuters, 5 Jun 08)

Mike McConnell, the director of U.S. national intelligence, is in Israel to hear its spymasters' arguments that Iran could obtain nuclear weapons within two years, Israeli officials said on Wednesday. Last year's U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) found that Iran -- which denies seeking the bomb -- had shelved a military nuclear program in 2003 though it could still potentially produce warheads in the next decade. The report was a blow to Israel, which is believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal and says its arch-foe's uranium enrichment projects could yield a first bomb by 2010. Closing ranks on the issue could be key to authorizing any future military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities….(Reuters, 4 Jun 08)

It's the job of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, to think up useful new ideas, and one of their newest is called Vulture. Think of it as a very inexpensive spy satellite -- or, as what it looks like: a robotic plane that can stay airborne for five years or more. Why would anyone want one? Because, in part, a satellite can cost tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, and may not really be necessary -- if you can build a practical alternative. If the military wants to keep an eye on a sensitive place, or if a cable company wants to send signals to subscribers, why have a satellite hundreds of miles up when you can do the same job from 12 or 20 miles up?....(AP, 3 Jun 08)